Enacts the rainy day act; moves funds from the tax stabilization fund to the rainy day reserve fund; increases the maximum balance; requires certain deposits; prohibits establishment of funds except by statute.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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10594
IN ASSEMBLY
June 20, 2024
___________
Introduced by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Rajkumar) --
read once and referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
AN ACT to amend the state finance law, in relation to enacting the rainy
day act; to increase the maximum balance of the rainy day reserve
fund; and to repeal certain provisions of such law relating to the tax
stabilization reserve fund
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
2 the "rainy day act".
3 § 2. All funds currently held in or due to be deposited into the tax
4 stabilization reserve fund pursuant to section 92 of the state finance
5 law as of the effective date of this section shall be transferred to and
6 deposited into the rainy day reserve fund established in section 92-cc
7 of the state finance law.
8 § 3. Section 92 of the state finance law is REPEALED.
9 § 4. Section 92-cc of the state finance law is amended by adding a new
10 subdivision 6 to read as follows:
11 6. a. The aggregate amount disbursed from the general fund during the
12 fiscal year shall constitute the norm for such fiscal year of the amount
13 of revenues from such taxes, fees and other sources, and the term
14 "norm," as used in this section, shall mean such aggregate amount.
15 b. At the close of each fiscal year any cash surplus remaining in the
16 general fund over and above the norm for such fiscal year shall be
17 transferred from or retained in such fund as hereinafter in this subdi-
18 vision provided. There shall be transferred to the rainy day reserve
19 fund all of such surplus moneys, up to and including an amount equiv-
20 alent to two-tenths of one per centum of such norm, unless such transfer
21 would increase such reserve fund to an amount in excess of two per
22 centum of the amount of the norm for such fiscal year, in which event
23 such transfer shall be limited to such amount as will increase such
24 reserve fund to such two per centum limitation.
25 § 5. Subdivision 2 of section 92-cc of the state finance law, as
26 amended by section 25 of part PP of chapter 56 of the laws of 2023, is
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14073-02-4
A. 10594 2
1 amended and three new subdivisions 2-a, 2-b and 2-c are added to read as
2 follows:
3 2. Such fund shall have a maximum balance not to exceed [twenty-five]
4 thirty per centum of the aggregate amount projected to be disbursed from
5 the general fund during the then-current fiscal year. At the request of
6 the director of the budget, the state comptroller shall transfer monies
7 to the rainy day reserve fund up to and including an amount equivalent
8 to [fifteen] twenty per centum of the aggregate amount projected to be
9 disbursed from the general fund during the then-current fiscal year,
10 unless such transfer would increase the rainy day reserve fund to an
11 amount in excess of [twenty-five] thirty per centum of the aggregate
12 amount projected to be disbursed from the general fund during the then-
13 current fiscal year, in which event such transfer shall be limited to
14 such amount as will increase the rainy day reserve fund to such [twen-
15 ty-five] thirty per centum limitation.
16 2-a. The state comptroller shall annually deposit into the rainy day
17 reserve fund an amount equal to two-thirds of common rate and base tax
18 receipts growth in excess of two percent. "Common rate and base tax
19 receipts" shall mean revenue calculated presuming there is no change in
20 tax laws or other tax-related policies.
21 2-b. No less than ten per centum of any nonrecurring extraordinary
22 monetary settlements of ten million dollars or more shall be deposited
23 into the rainy day fund, unless otherwise prohibited under the terms of
24 the receipt.
25 2-c. If mandatory transfers into the rainy day reserve fund as
26 provided by this section exceed thirty per centum of the aggregate
27 amount projected to be disbursed from the general fund during the then-
28 current fiscal year, such excess funds shall be deposited into the reti-
29 ree health benefits trust fund established by section ninety-nine-aa of
30 this article.
31 § 6. There shall be no fund established or maintained for the purpose
32 of transfers to the state operating funds in the event of economic
33 uncertainties, unless such fund is created pursuant to an act of the
34 legislature in the consolidated laws of the state. Any amounts existing
35 in any fund currently maintained for such purpose shall be transferred
36 to the rainy day reserve fund established by section 92-cc of the state
37 finance law.
38 § 7. This act shall take effect on the first of April next succeeding
39 the date upon which it shall have become a law.
